Birth Name: Harrison Ford IIBirthdate: July 13, 1942Birthplace: Chicago, ILOccupation: ActorQuote: "If you become a part of that machinery, someone the
machinery thinks it can use and exploit at that particular moment, then
there is sure to be a time limit on you, and you are soon going to be
unfashionable. Because I have never been fashionable, I can never be
unfashionable." - Vanity Fair magazine, July 1993

Claim to Fame: 1977: Played breakthrough role of Han Solo in Star Wars

Biography
This leading man's craggy features and powerful physical presence have enhanced
some of Hollywood's most successful blockbusters of the 1970s and 80s. After a
brief stint as a film actor in the late 60s, Ford turned to carpentry for five
years, returning to Hollywood to appear in George Lucas' "American Graffiti"
(1973). He shot to fame as the arrogant but good-humored space pilot Han Solo in
Lucas' "Star Wars" (1977) and his star shone even brighter in "The Empire
Strikes Back" (1980), the second installment of the trilogy. Ford established
himself as a leading international romantic star as the archeologist hero of
Lucas and Steven Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) and the subsequent
"Indiana Jones" chronicles. He also earned a place in the hearts of cult movie
fans playing the cynical, android-killing cop in Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner"
(1982) and proved capable of a wider emotional range with a fine performance in
Peter Weir's "Witness" (1985) as a police detective forced to take refuge from
murderous colleagues in an Amish community. The latter earned him an Oscar
nomination as Best Actor. Ford followed up with a very ambitious performance in
Weir's somewhat problematic "The Mosquito Coast" (1986).

Thereafter, Ford settled into a comfortable box-office plateau for the rest
of the 80s and on into the 90s. He teamed up with Sean Connery to bid farewell
to Dr. Jones in Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989) and
played a series of intelligent, beleaguered professionals in a variety of
mainstream romantic and action films. If his earlier tongue-in-cheek qualities
were largely absent, his stalwart image nonetheless provided a reliable anchor
whose rueful quality evoked Bogart and whose troubled stoicism called to mind
Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck. Ford was outshone by his more vivacious co-stars
in Mike Nichols' romantic comedy "Working Girl" (1988) but provided the tense
emotional core for Roman Polanski's "Frantic" (1988). "Presumed Innocent"
(1990), "Patriot Games" (1992), "The Fugitive" (1993) and "Air Force One" (1997)
were superior if straightforward genre fare, but "Regarding Henry" (1991,
another Nichols film) gave the actor another chance to explore the more
vulnerable side of his star persona as a brusque lawyer turned into a childlike
innocent by a gunshot wound to the head. If some critics carped at Ford's
increasingly low-key performance style, his popular following continued to
relish the brand of moral authority that only true movie star heroes can
brandish.

Not to be confused with, and not related to, prolific silent screen actor
Harrison Ford (1892-1957). In fact, Ford was billed as Harrison J Ford until
1970 to avoid confusion. His second marriage in 1983 was to screenwriter Melissa
Mathison.

Filmography
Growing Hope: The Homeless Garden Project
Lost Worlds: Life In The Balance (2002)
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
The Concert For New York City (2001)
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Random Hearts (1999)
Jane Goodall: Reason for Hope (1999)
Tony Bennett: Live By Request (1999)
Six Days, Seven Nights (1998)
Mustang: The Hidden Kingdom (1998)
The Devil's Own (1997)
Air Force One (1997)
Les Cent et une Nuits de Simon Cinema (1995)
Sabrina (1995)
L'Univers de Jacques Demy (1995)
Jimmy Hollywood (1994)
Clear and Present Danger (1994)
The Fugitive (1993)
Earth and the American Dream (1993)
Patriot Games (1992)
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues
(1992)
Regarding Henry (1991)
Presumed Innocent (1990)
L'Envers du Decor (1990)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Frantic (1988)
Working Girl (1988)
The Mosquito Coast (1986)
Witness (1985)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
From "Star Wars" to "Jedi": The Making of a Saga (1983)
Return of the Jedi (1983)
Blade Runner (1982)
Great Movie Stunts and the Making of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981)
Making of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Making of the "Star Wars" Trilogy: Special Effects (1980)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Frisco Kid (1979)
Hanover Street (1979)
Making of "Star Wars" (1979)
More American Graffiti (1979)
Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
Heroes (1977)
The Possessed (1977)
Star Wars (1977)
James Michener's Dynasty (1976)
The Conversation (1974)
American Graffiti (1973)
Getting Straight (1970)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
Journey to Shiloh (1968)
Luv (1967)
A Time for Killing (1967)
The Intruders (1967)
Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966)